Sayori
Sayori is one of the five members of the Literature Club, serving as its vice president in Act 1 and president in Act 4. She is the player's best friend from childhood. The two walked to school together until eventually she began oversleeping. Name Although there exist a few Japanese individuals who have the name Sayori, it isn't a common name and has no traditional meaning. Dan Salvato stated in the DDLC Fanpack booklet that the name is an "unholy fusion between 'Sayuri' and 'Saori.'" The Japanese spelling of Sayori is さより and the kanji alternative is 針魚. Personality Sayori is intended to play off the visual novel trope of the childhood friend who becomes a romantic interest. She is portrayed as being rather talkative, as she often goes on tangents. She cares deeply about the well-being and happiness of others, especially the player, and appears to be enthusiastic about everything. However, she makes it clear that this is a pretense due to her depression, and that it hurts her when people worry about her. Thus, she tries to keep everyone as happy as possible to make sure nobody needs to worry about her. Her depression makes her very unmotivated to do anything, as she explains, which is why she's so often late to school, never cleans her room, and has short hair (to make it easier to take care of). Sayori's Birthday is on Feb. 2 Significance In Act 1, Sayori reveals that she’s had serious depression her whole life, marking the beginning of the downward spiral of the game’s tone. She is soon driven to suicide by her confused feelings for the main character. In Act 3, it's revealed that this is a direct result of Monika amplifying her depression in an attempt to keep her from confessing her love to the player. Sayori cares about the player deeply to the point of romantic interest, but she will end her life regardless of the player's decision to reciprocate her confession or not out of ambivalence. If the player accepts her confession, she's driven to suicide out of the player's worry for her, and if he rejects it, she's driven to suicide out of heartbreak. When she returns in Act 4, she shows cognizance to what Monika did in Act 2 and Act 3. This seems to be less related to Sayori herself and more pertinent to her position as the president of the Literature Club. If the player deletes monika.chr prior to creating a new save, instead of delivering her normal dialogue at the beginning of the game, Sayori is overcome with existential dread, causing the game to terminate itself. Upon reopening, a black screen with the word END in white letters will be displayed, followed by, a black and white image of her suicide from Act 1's ending. If the player waits ten minutes on this screen, the phrase "Now everyone can be happy." will fade in beside Sayori, written in her handwriting. This screen and message will also appear if the player deletes sayori.chr at any point before her suicide in Act 1. References Category:Characters